Rockin’ the relativity spaceship

Copernican heliocentrism, corrective as it was, did not diminish the central role of Logos in creation of the universe. The cosmological effects of Copernicus’ earthshattering research in solar system dynamics did not happen overnight; they took a long time to play out. It wasn’t really until the next century that the Catholic establishment felt threatened by the Polish researcher’s revolutionary discovery. Unfortunately, Galileo later suffered the brunt of the Church’s political rage against inevitable Copernican correction.

The Catholic churc’h’s attempts to defend God by attacking Copernican reorientation was useless–mere sound and fury signifying nothing. As it turns out, God needs no defending. Jesus established that principle when he demanded that Peter put away the sword.

And we see in subsequent history that Logos survived Copernicus’ theoretical rearrangement of the cosmos, as well as the religious hierarchy’s slow but sure reactionary persecution of it. Yes, God continues in spite of all human disputations to survive in the universe as well as in the souls of men and women.

Similarly, Darwin’s biologically-enabled debunking of anthropocentrism 300 years later did not diminish the central role of Logos in creation of the universe. All the ensuing, well-documented paleological, geographical, and biological evidence does not dissuade humans of their belief in God. Why is that?

Science is not the language of mankind. Most folks don’t really understand it, though many dutifully pay lip service to it. I, for instance, certainly don’t understand it all, although I try to keep up with the changes. But no one can keep up with the accelerating speed of scientific revelation, not even the scientists. They’ve got their hands and minds full in just staying informed in their respective fields of research.

People do generally understand, however, the language of faith; it resonates in their soul, like Vivaldi string vibrations amplifying and emanating from the hollow body of a violin. Faith sustains spiritual life and health in ways that scientific truth cannot. And this resilience of faith in the human breast stands the test of time. If the accuracy, precision, and inaccessible complexity of science is used politically to oppress people–to extinguish what they believe to be true about the universe and its creator–they will resist it every time.

Scientific truth can trump old data and antiquated theories, but it has no power to overcome faith. The political, social and educational battles that roil around evolution, climate change and other processes of nature are tempests in a planetary teapot. Something much more potent than scientific fact brews in places unseen.